Advantages

Disadvantages

"no case supplied"

Konica's e-mini D is aimed at the non-professional user who wants to create pictures for the web or to email to friends and family. Here are the specs: *Number of pixels: 300,000 *Resolution: High = 640 x 480 pixels (VGA) | Low = 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA) | Movie = 320 x 240 pixels *Memory: 2MB SDRAM *Lens: F2.8 *Finder: Optical viewfinder *PC Interface: USB *Batteries: Two size AA alkaline dry-cell *Size (W x H x D): 70 x 103 x 30 mm *Weight: 118g *Supported OSs: Windows 98 / 98SE / 2000 Professional / ME The first thing you notice about this camera is what a pleasant little object it is; silver with nicely rounded edges and a good size and weight for your hand. It comes with a USB cable to transfer your pictures quickly to your computer, and with MGI PhotoSuite III which is an OK piece of image-editing and organising software, though as an owner of Photoshop not something which I will get much use out of. What you don't get is any kind of case for the camera, and as the lens and LCD monitor are exposed this is an accessory which I felt I could not long do without. Taking pictures couldn't be easier - it is a simple case of turning the camera on, looking through the viewfinder, pointing and clicking. There are 3 different shooting modes to choose from: *High-resolution: 640 x 480 pixels (30 images) *Low-resolution: 320 x 240 pixels (80 images) *Movie: 320 x 240 pixels (10 seconds) Choosing a mode is again very simple - scroll through them using a dial on the side of the camera and view the options in the LCD monitor, then press the dial in to choose the correct mode. The LCD monitor can be used to view your images and erase those which you don't want to keep. Using the LCD monitor quickly drains the batteries, so I try to keep it's use to a minimum and wait until I am back at my computer before going through the images. It is after you have trans ferred your pictures to your computer that you are likely to feel a little disappointed with this otherwise good little camera. The quality of the images, even in the high-resolution mode, is poor. The BMP image which you end up with lacks clarity and sharpness due to the low number of pixels making up the image. However, by shrinking the image a little using your photo-editing software you can create an image which is just about adequate for publishing on the web or for sending in an email.